Ever See A Yearbook Pic Of A Kiss? Not If It's New Jersey And They're Gay...

[BlooInBloo]

(sorry for the fox link - that's how it came to me.)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,286444,00.html

"NEWARK, N.J. — The yearbooks were finally printed and ready to be picked up by students at Newark's East Side High School — but not before some officials snapped open their correcting pens to edit out a picture of two males kissing.

This was not art class, but staff afraid of parental backlash used markers to color over the picture, censoring it from every copy of the 2007 yearbook before distributing it, MyFoxNY.com reports."


The degree to which America can't handle "teh gay" is just maddening.

[Lerkfish]

1. not for nothing, but how did it end up in the book in the first place?

seems like a very forthright honest picture, sensitive and tasteful.

I imagine a photographer, two boys and a yearbook editor are going to be upset.

[ThomCat]

5. What's inappropriate about it?

If photos of straight people are allowed, then this should be too?

I know someone's going to just in and say no public displays of affection should be allowed, but I doubt the high school would have blacked out pictures of a boy and a girl kissing. This is clearly about them being gay.

[Lerkfish]

34. did you even read my post?

[ThomCat]

36. Yes,

and I was responding to the question in the subject line.

[BlooInBloo]

37. I think the poster was just wondering why "teh gay" wasn't caught *earlier*....

.... rather than just as they were about to distribute them.

It's somewhat surprising that such anti-gay folks would have *missed* that until the very last minute.

[Lerkfish]

38. exactly my point. Thanks for explaining it.

I sort of thought I was communicating that, but I guess not.

[BlooInBloo]

40. You communicated it just fine. I'm no mind-reader, after all.

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. Well...ain't that grand!

The high school blacks it out in the yearbook, and the photo gets MSM attention, distribution, and publication! :woohoo:

(deleted direct photo link as it's a servlet, and messed up my machine...just though y'all would want to know so it doesn't happen to you.
Apologies to those who already clicked on the previously posted link )

[Fridays Child]

3. And here's the kiss...

   
Newark school officials blacked out a yearbook picture
of Andre Jackson kissing his boyfriend David Escobales.
School officials decided the photo was "inappropriate.

[ThomCat]

6. It's a nice photos. Good for them, being out in HS

and open about their relationship. :woohoo:

[rurallib]

8. Hope the admins stayed within the lines when coloring

W would!

[BlooInBloo]

9. Nice find!

[Warren DeMontague]

18. OhMiGod! OhmiGod! OhmiGod!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



AAAAAAAAAAA........wha?



AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Psyop Samurai]

49. LMAO !!! n/t

[Clark2008]

30. That photo is so dark, I can only see one boy kissing something.

No one would have even known what it was had they not made a big stink out of it (unless the reproduction in the yearbook is lighter).

[Balbus]

33. I think you're monitor is messed up.

[BlooInBloo]

35. Wow.

[kevinbgoode]

39. OMG! One of those guys is sure to become pregnant

and the other will be riddled with STDs because they didn't wear a full-body condom before daring to lock lips.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

48. OMG TEH GHEYS!

Really, what the fuck is wrong with people?

[Madspirit]

4. k&r...n/t

[JerseygirlCT]

7. Wow.

As if those markered over pages aren't the thing that we ought to be scared about.

[dsc]

10. They claim this would have happened with an opposite gender kiss

if true, then I don't have a problem since that would be the same standard being applied to all people. To say I have my doubts is an understatement.

[BlooInBloo]

11. I've seen jillions of hetero kisses in yearbooks.

[dsc]

12. I have as well

but in fairness I have worked for school districts which likely would have banned such photos. Since I haven't been to Newark nor seen their yearbook, I have to hold out some sliver of doubt for them.

[mondo joe]

13. I concur. If that really is their standard it should be easy to prove with review

of past books. If that's the standard I don't mind it being applied universally.

[BlooInBloo]

14. Fine. As soon as I find *one* kiss in one of their yearbooks, they get fired.

[mondo joe]

15. Works for me!

:hi:

[dsc]

19. certainly the asst superintendent should be fired if he is lying

I would give the flunkies a pass though since they have to do what he tells them to.

[ThomCat]

25. That's very fair.

:)

But somehow I doubt the school district will go for it. There's nothing school districts hate more than getting called out on their lies and B.S. It interferes with their power trip.

[mondo joe]

16. What makes me most suspicious is that the superintendent

described the picture as "illicit".

It's such a sweet NON-ILLICIT photo.

I have a hard time imagining it blacked out of one of them were a girl.

[dsc]

17. and if they both were girls

it would be featured on the next girls go wild.

[mondo joe]

20. Hell, it's so sweet that if it were two girls not known to be lesbians

they would have likely printed it.

[kevinbgoode]

41. If they were both girls, the pics would have been blown up and

sold as giant posters for the straight boy wet dreams.

[mondo joe]

21. Update: Apology.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/25/national/main2977259.shtml

A New Jersey school district said Monday it regretted ordering a picture of a male student kissing his boyfriend blacked out from all copies of a high school yearbook and said it apologized to the student.

***

The district issued a statement Monday saying it regretted the decision and that it would issue an unredacted version of the yearbook to any student of East Side High School who wants one.

"The decision was based, in part, on misinformation that Mr. Jackson was not one of our students and our review simply focused on the suggestive nature of the photograph," the district said.

***

The photo was among several that appeared on a special personal tribute page in the yearbook. Jackson, who paid $150 for the page, noted that the yearbook is filled with pictures of heterosexual couples kissing.

[BlooInBloo]

22. They regret it blew up in their fucking faces.

EDIT: Good find!

[mondo joe]

26. Oh it gets even better: NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/education/24yearbook.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=nyregion&adxnnlx=1182716005-QMzn+1h4JU1CH0oZNaj4+w&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Like other students, Mr. Jackson later paid $150 to have his own special page of photos in the school yearbook. He decided to include the picture of the kiss, to make not a political statement, but a personal one.

***

The decision to blot out the photo was made by Marion A. Bolden, the Newark Public Schools superintendent. Ms. Bolden said that an assistant superintendent had alerted her to the picture on Thursday afternoon. “I thought that the photo was suggestive,” Ms. Bolden said.

She said she made her decision without seeing the entire yearbook, and looked at only the one page.

The thin, hardcover yearbook, titled “Take Another Look,” features many pictures of the Class of 2007, including several of heterosexual couples embracing and kissing. On the page immediately opposite Mr. Jackson’s, a young man and a young woman kiss on a couch, his hand on her leg as she sits on his lap.

[BlooInBloo]

29. That'll about cover the benefit of the doubt business.

[dsc]

32. I could see someone here (NC) thinking this would fly

but in NJ, a state with about the best gay rights laws in the nation, go figure.

[kevinbgoode]

42. And I'm sure the US Supreme Court would claim that kiss is not

free expression, or fulfillment of a contract, but a threat similar to the "Bong hits 4 Jesus" sign....and must be suppressed.

[Solly Mack]

50. snort

bigots

[progressoid]

44. Prezactly!

[dsc]

guess that removes all doubt

sure enough lying bigotted bastards.

[dsc]

23. guess that removes all doubt

sure enough lying bigotted bastards.

[dsc]

24. guess that removes all doubt

sure enough lying bigotted bastards.

[ThomCat]

28. At the very least, they should get their money back.

And get a free copy of the yearbook with that apology. x(

"the yearbook is filled with pictures of heterosexual couples kissing." Surprise, surprise, surprise. There's no way to say that this wasn't anything other than homophobia. :grr:

[mondo joe]

31. Per the news story, anystudent can get an unredacted copy.

Getting their money back doesn't seem sufficient, but I can't think of what would be.

[kevinbgoode]

43. I can. .. make the school board pay for new copies for every student

eom/

[Richard Steele]

47. Oh, BULLSHIT!

""The decision was based, in part, on misinformation
that Mr. Jackson was not one of our students..."

That's the dumbest goddamn lie I've heard all day.

[LWolf]

27. We never had any pics of kissing in my yearbooks.

We did have some (then) *shocking* photos of hetero-racial couples holding hands.

I haven't seen a yearbook since my youngest son graduated a decade ago. Perhaps kissing photos are common now. Probably not, though. The kinds of "kissing" generally seen on our local campus might be considered a little too "graphic" to put permanently in print, lol.

Frankly, our girls-only clinches are way more graphic than anything the boys engage in publicly.

Whatever the school and district has approved for mixed gender photos should be the same for same gender photos. Same standard for all, whether kissing is part of the mix or not.

What a juvenile way to deal with the issue. Marking them out with markers. I'd ask for a large discount refunded due to the lowered quality standards, myself.

[Beelzebud]

45. I was suspended for 1 day for kissing my girlfriend in highschool.

[LWolf]

46. I'm laughing now, but it probably wasn't funny then.

I am divided. The human part of me wants to move beyond adolescent experimentation as a "crime," knowing that it is inevitable.

The professional part of me wants adolescents to do their experimenting and social development somewhere else, so that it doesn't interfere with academic focus. Of course, I know that's not realistic. Expecting that young people can close off whole parts of themselves for 6-7 hours at a stretch while they are in school? It's not going to happen.

I think a balanced approach is best; one that encourages people to focus on the task at home and keep their private lives private, without making suppression of natural impulses a big, public agenda. Avoiding extremes at either end of the spectrum at school is good.

[lies and propaganda]

51. and im sure they paid $50 bucks for a censored, marked up book..

its amazing how fucking backward this country is.